In All My Dreams I Drown
by Rylenae
Summary: Following a case, the boys end up being in way over their head, knee deep in hauntings, baggage and a girl who insists on tagging along to find out what lies her family told and what was truth. She just might be a good shot, but who's to say she could be a good hunter? [[Eventually a CastielxOC.]] THIS IS KIND OF AU, MY STORY SEEMS OFF, WILL LINE BACK UP WAY LATER!
1. 2 AM

She rushed through a dark, wooded area, running from a mysterious assailant. Her breath was running out, her legs were screaming with white, hot pain. She's ran for so long, she can't even remember how long it's been since she'd started running for her life. She screamed as she almost collided with a tree, and the brief pause let what was chasing her catch up. The sound of rushing water resounded through her ears, and again she pushed herself so hard that the scream from her muscles was almost louder than her own.

After what felt like days, she saw a light ahead. Was it salvation? Was there help? She could only pray.

Her heart sank when she saw what it was; a cliff overlooking a large, deep and blue body of water with no other land in sight. She slowly turned around and saw gigantic waves rolling at her maliciously. Accepting defeat, she closed her eyes and drew in the deepest breath her strained lungs could . The waves grabbed her and threw her from the cliff like a ragdoll, cracking a bone in her ribs from the pressure. She screamed in pain, and received lungs full of water in return.

Outside of her head, she was actually strapped to a bed surrounded by doctors and orderlies ready to work. They watched her convulse as she dreamed, indicating her drowning had begun. The doctor started issuing commands to save her, resuscitation, CPR, medicine to jolt her awake. Nothing seemed to work.

The girl coughed and water choked out from between her lips and into the air mask they were trying to use to get her breathing again, and forced them to restart the process. They tried and tried to wake her, but the only time her eyes opened was when her heart monitor flat lined, and water just ran in a single stream from her lips.

She just wouldn't stop drowning.

* * *

Sam jolted awake as the car slowed to a halt at a stop light.

"What, huh? Where are we?"

"Ohio. You slept from South Dakota."

Sam's face twisted in confusion. "From Bobby's? I slept… nineteen hours?"

"Yup! You might want to look in the mirror, too. You were out of it, guess you really needed it."

Sam flipped down the visor and opened the mirror and groaned in annoyance. "Seriously, Dean? How old are you?"

Dean's voice rang with laughter as he stepped on the gas again. Sam's face was covered in pen drawings consisting of scribbles and some inappropriate shapes near his mouth. He grabbed a bottle of water and napkins, wetting the napkin and wiped at his face.

"You were tired! I was bored! I stopped for food twice, asked you both times if you wanted something. You said no, so I carried on. The second time, I got all Picasso on your face."

"Glad you can find pleasure in my misery…" Sam finished cleaning his face and threw the napkins in a take-out bag on the floorboards. "I seriously slept all the way to Ohio?"

Dean pointed at a road sign indicating entrance to Columbus, Ohio. Sam blinked in amazement.

"Why'd we come here again, Sammy?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, here," he started pulling out his notes and newspaper scans. "There've been deaths in a hospital in the middle of the nights, one each week for the past month."

"Cause of death?" Dean asked, getting into his Hunter persona.

"Drowning in their sleep. The doctors even try to prevent the drowning from happening by keeping close eyes on all the patients and making sure the staff is always present."

"What do you think is doing it? Vengeful spirit?"

"I couldn't say. We'll have to get some information."

Dean nodded and turned the dial on his radio up. Sam tried to process every possibility in his head, but gave up as Dean's music just kept piercing his thoughts.

-x-

Donned in their faux suits, Sam and Dean entered the city hospital prepared to FBI their way into more information. The brothers exchanged glances of reassurance and approached the nest of doctors at a nurse's station.

"Hey, is one of you the head doctors around here?" Sam asked as he put his hands on his hips.

One man with short shaven hair and thin-rimmed glasses spoke up for the rest of them. "Who are you men?"

"FBI Special Agents Bordeaux and Benton," Dean answered, flashing his FBI badge alongside Sam. "We're looking into the cases of all the drowning patients."

The same man who answered looked to the other doctors near him and nodded, and they dispersed. "I didn't know there was a case here."

"You're in charge here, then?" Sam pulled out his notepad and pen.

"Yes, I'm Doctor John Smith."

"John Smith?" Dean asked skeptically. A doctor with a common name as fake as that?

"I get that a lot. So what do you need to know? The police had already questioned me."

"Just cleaning up some loose ends. How did the patients drown?" Dean then pocketed his hands.

John looked around and noticed his nurses peering at him not that secretly. "Can we discuss this in my office?"

-x-

"The patients were asleep when they drown?" Sam asked with the most disbelief he could muster.

"Yeah, it baffled us all… No one really seems to believe us, but it always happened in the middle of the night."

"Did any of the patients exhibit any peculiar behavior?" Dean added.

"Well, no, not really. I mean, there were a few things, but this is not only a hospital. We also treat some unstable patients, too."

"Unstable?"

"Crazy people. But only in younger ages, more minor cases. Like suicidal teenagers, or young adults that lost a loved one crazy. Anything worse than that we send off to the mental hospital."

"Anything that stood out more than most?" Sam asked then, scribbling as fast as he could to keep up with speech.

"The first thing the patients seemed to exhibit was that they didn't want to sleep, because the night before they had a nightmare…"

"They say what was in the nightmare?" Dean leaned forward, eyes narrowing.

"That they were warned to not sleep… wait, you guys think this has something to do with it? We had autopsies completed and found nothing."

"One more question, before we go," Sam added quickly, "will you let us know right away if someone else starts to behave like the previous?" He placed a card before the doctor.

John picked it up and turned it in his hands. "I'll consider it."

"Thanks," Dean ended the conversation with a handshake and a smile.

Back at the Impala, Sam read over his notes.

"What do we do now? Wait for the doc to call us? If he does?" Dean started up the car and turned on the AC.

Sam switched it off. "It's cold enough. Let's get back to the motel and look up some info on the patients that were killed. See if there's a pattern, if there could be a ghost haunting the area."

-x-

"According to the profiles of the three drowning victims, they have nothing in common except for that hospital," Dean told Sam from the table.

"And what I've found is that there is a person that could be haunting the patients. There used to be a pool where the hospital expanded to a long time ago, they built over it. Apparently, someone had sleepwalked into the pool and drown," Sam read from his laptop on the bed.

"Someone who? Find and torch the bones and we can get rid of them?"

"The person's name was… Linda Kaufman. Only two years ago."

"What a sad way to die. Where's she buried?"

"Uh… She's not. She was cremated per her requests, so she must be haunting a personal object."

Dean's head fell in annoyance. "Greaaaaaat… Let's do some more research, my favorite."

"Go ahead and go, I know you want to."

"Go where?" Dean asked, trying to be unknowing, although he was already putting his hands on his keys.

"Just go!" Sam leaned into his laptop and continued on his search as Dean bolted out the door.

For the remainder of the day, Dean was actually out trying to gather information on the drowning of Linda Kaufman, while Sam did more backgrounds on the passed away patients, and what he could on Linda.

It seemed off to Sam that the ghost would only be two years old and already have haunting and vengeance on its mind, but he didn't truly know the nature of the deceased, so he couldn't speculate on it much longer.

-x-

Doctor John Smith looked over the FBI contact card Sam left with him. Should he call? What would they really do?

A knock sounded on the wooden frame that was the entrance to his office. "Doctor? It's Bell. She just woke up from another nightmare…"

"Still saying someone warned her?"

The nurse at the door nodded sheepishly. "She is refusing to try to sleep again, or any medication."

"I'll be there in a minute."

The nurse closed the door back over to where it was before she addressed the doctor. John stared at the card a little longer, then glanced at the phone. No, he wouldn't call. He could save this patient. He can do it, he can reverse this awkward anomaly and become a hero among the city and its people, make the papers, even the news. He can prove it to the FBI who believed the weirdness and show them he wasn't as stupid as they seemed to think of him.

He pressed the card in-between his hands, crumbling it and tossing it in the trashcan.

-x-

Dean came back in the middle of the night, deciding a stop at the local bar was needed. He didn't drink much, anticipating a call tomorrow from John. He stayed seated in the car, just looking at the window that held the room he was supposed to be sleeping in on the other side.

A sound of feathers ruffling came from his right, and without looking, he knew what that noise meant.

"Fancy meeting you here, Cas. Did Sammy call you?"

"No, Dean. I came here of my own accord."

Dean raised his brows and looked at his trench coat-wearing angelic friend. "Are you here on orders? Did I do something wrong again?" he mocked as he threw open the door and got out.

Cas was waiting for him outside his door. "No, it's about your case."

"Well, let's hear it," Dean replied while getting into the trunk of the car. His hands brushed the six-pack he bought earlier in the day, and the cold night kept it the perfect temperature.

"The patients all drown at exactly 2 A.M. each Thursday night. Tomorrow night is Thursday. The next victim will be tomorrow."

"Why couldn't Sammy find that out? Why didn't I catch that?" Dean responded with a half-hearted interest.

Castiel narrowed his eyes at Dean. "Are you intoxicated?"

Dean eyed his beer bottle confusingly, and then chuckled. "Okay, so I might be, but not more than I usually am."

"Dean, I worry about you."

With the same flutter, Castiel had disappeared.

"I would worry about me, too. I think. Ha."

Dean locked up his car and went into the room. His brother was curled up and asleep soundly on one bed. Dean looked at his watch and then around the room. He sat his almost empty bottle on the table near him and started to undo his shirt. He realized he should probably look for his tie later; oh wait, there it is, in his pocket. With a small laugh at himself, he tossed it to the table to join his beer and finished loosing up his clothes and sat down on his bed.

As Dean watched his brother, he felt his sober side peaking through and give him thoughts mixed with his drunken side. _Oh, Sammy, our lives are so fucked up and here you can sleep so soundly, almost every night. Do you hate me for this? I would. I would hate the shit out of me. You're way more forgiving than I am, and I think that's what keeps me strong, some days. Other days, I hate you as much as you hate me. Either way, I love ya, Sammy. See you in the morning._

Once his head hit the pillow, he was completely out of it.


	2. Bell

_I should have written this on the first chapter, but I derped, so, here it is. I want to let you know that Supernatural is a new topic for me to write about, and I'm trying to get the hang of it, so in the meantime, I apologize for my shoddy writing and telling of this beautiful show. I'm hoping to ease into it sooner than later. Also, a lot of the topics I write about are all inspired from snapshots of Tumblr posts I've seen. I will give credit to the Tumblr user if their name is available in the screenshots I have, but if not I will still cite the anonymous user and will gladly credit you if it is you. Just let me know. The titles are all from a 64 Prompt list that I cannot seem to find the original site for... Gosh I suck at internet. This first story was my lame attempt at an original idea, and it needed to be done so that I could introduce my OC. Forgive me for butchering the show (if I did. If I didn't, carry on :D)_

_Sorry for the long Author's Note, now Carry On My Wayward Reader._

-x-

Dean woke up before Sam did, due to Dean's ability to not sleep more than four hours a night. It was nearing nine in the morning, and Dean decided, seeing as how he was still half dressed in his suit, that he'd go confront the doctor about the possible casualty that could happen tonight.

"Dean? Is that you?"

Dean froze in getting dressed. So maybe he wasn't going alone… "Yeah, just woke up."

"Hey, I wanted to share some stuff with you I found last night. I tried calling you but you didn't answer."

"My phone died." _My phone rang? So maybe I _did_ drink a bit too much without realizing it…_ Dean looked at his phone and saw four missed called from Sam. _Well, then…_

Sam grabbed his laptop and opened it, refreshing webpages and notes he kept. "Linda Kaufman was adopted, and was fully aware of it. She took an angry approach to it and found out she had a sister still with her real family here in town. It wasn't a secret she envied her sister, but could never get close enough to her to take revenge."

"So, go check in with the real parents and sister?"

Sam tilted his head and widened his eyes in a tinge of exasperation. "Well, the parents disappeared, most likely killed at the second sister's young age of three. The younger sister was put into adoption as well, and was taken in by one of the doctors at the hospital…" Sam trailed off, looking to Dean to see if he could pick up the clue he dropped.

"John adopted her?"

"Yup. As far as she knows, she doesn't have any family, and John has been the only father she's known."

"So why is Linda's ghost haunting the hospital? Take revenge on John to show her sister the loss of a parent?"

Sam shrugged. "I guess. I couldn't find the name of the adopted daughter, though. John or someone else has done a lot to cover that up."

Dean finished dressing in his suit again, placing his gun in his waistband. "Let's get some breakfast on the road. We have to go talk to that doctor again."

"Yeah, sure. Did you find anything out last night?" Sam questioned as he started to get dressed in his suit.

Dean glanced around and nodded. He can't keep hiding things from Sam. "Yeah, Cas came by last night."

Sam paused and looked over to Dean, whose back was turned to him. "What did he say?"

"He noticed a pattern, someone else is going to die tonight at 2 A.M."

"We gotta go then!" Sam hastily finished dressing himself in his suit, and then watched as Dean just stood there. "What are you waiting for?"

"I feel like this case is too easy."

"That's not a bad thing. We could use the break every now and then, right?"

Dean looked his brother up and down, and then turned his gaze away. "I guess so. Let's go eat and finish it up.

-x-

"Doctor Smith, we need you to give us more information pertaining to the case," Sam approached the man, apparently intimidating him with the way he started cowering.

"What are you guys doing here? I didn't call you…"

"Is something happening?" Dean's gaze pierced the doctor menacingly. "Something happening tonight, for instance?"

"No! Nothing! Can you please leave? I have work to do." John tried to wander away but Sam blocked his path.

" Please, we're only trying to save lives here. Do you know something?"

John connected his eyes to Sam's more caring ones. He thought for a second, if he could just converse with Sam rather Dean, he wouldn't feel so timid, or bad about withholding information that could save people.

"I… let me show you something…"

John led the brothers up a floor to the ward where they kept what he referred to as the unstable patients. He led them straight to a locked room with a rectangular window viewing the inside.

"This is Bell."

Dean looked in the window and could see a girl facing the fenced window in a chair, her legs curled to her. All Dean could really see was her long brown hair that almost seemed to touch the small of her back.

"Who is Bell?" Sam pressed on.

John pursed his lips. "I think she's the next person… But that doesn't make sense. How could people just spontaneously drown? Wait, is this a case like spontaneous combustion? Is that even possible?"

"It's a ghost haunting." Dean said with an authoritative voice.

"You're bluffing."

Sam sighed. "No, we're not. Can we talk to Bell?"

John glanced between the brothers and then into the room. "I must be present. This could help with her treatment, otherwise I must say no."

Sam and Dean shared a look of understanding. "Can you tell us why she's in here, Doctor Smith?" Sam added.

"Acute psychosis… It just came on suddenly one day."

"She said she could see things? Demons, monsters?" Dean put his hand on the doorknob, already seeing what was happening.

"Well, yes, but, how do you…"

"She's not crazy. May we go in?" Dean opened the door anyway; leaving John confused looking at Sam. Sam nodded and hop-stepped into the room, John following.

Sam and Dean pulled chairs up to either side of Bell. Dean just saw her as a normal girl, Sam analyzed her to the best of his abilities. Early twenties, sleep deprived, her dark eyes were bloodshot and baggy. She looked victimized of malnutrition.

"Are you guys here to laugh at me, too?" she asked, her eyes still locked on her window. Sam looked out it, and could easily tell it viewed the expansion of the hospital that overtook the old pool.

"Actually, quite the opposite," Dean answered and flashed his badge. "We're FBI."

"What good could you do?"

"Hopefully, good enough to save your life," Sam responded. "Can you answer some questions for us? If you don't want to, it's fine. We understand."

Bell finally moved, but to only look at the doctor. He nodded, telling her it was okay.

"Okay, shoot," she answered almost monotonously.

"Can you tell me your full name?" Sam asked immediately.

"No."

"Alright, how 'bout the things you see?"

Bell looked at Dean with a disgusted look. "What does FBI want with my delusions?"

"Maybe they're not delusions. Maybe I see them, too, you never know. Humor me." Dean grinned at her.

Bell sighed and straightened in her chair. Her eyes narrowed, then she looked at Dean with a piercing gaze. "I see ghosts, and monsters. I hear voices, people talking about being angels and then they're ghosts again."

"Do the ghosts have names?" Sam asked, writing in his notepad.

Bell turned her head to look at him now. "Are they supposed to have names?"

"Well, sometimes they do, but—"

"Are you trying to justify my patient's illness? We're supposed to be curing her, not acknowledging the unknown and unreal!" John suddenly interjected.

"This is crucial to the case, doctor jackass, if you don't mind, we're continuing," Dean said with a harsh tone, knowing the doctor's timid nature would make him back out.

Sam nodded at Bell, indicating for her to continue. She gave a sideways shrug of her lips in uncertainty.

"The ghost I see in my dreams… I saw her drowning in a pool. She just jumped right in and let herself die. Now she comes to me, and tells me she wants to make me drown too. The doctors and nurses won't let me have water or anything to drink. I'm so thirsty. But I understand, I'm crazy and I think I might die next. No water in my body would almost eliminate the possibility of drowning, so is the doctor's theory," Bell then stabbed a glare at John. "But they forget the human body is mostly water to begin with, so I can always find something to drown on." Bell looked down at her feet since her legs were held to her so tightly. "I'm going to die tonight. I'm awake when the others drowned, so I know when it's going to happen. The lady in the dress tells me so. 2 A.M. tonight."

"You said you hear angels?" Sam then asked, wondering if Castiel or anyone else could be peering down on his girl, and if so, she might be protected.

"It's just that girl pretending. She tells me there are angels watching over me, that she's one of them, but then I see her dead corpse, and I've lost my faith. There's no such thing as angels."

Dean and Sam shared another glance. Sam nodded and closed his notebook, then placed a hand on Bell's shoulder to reassure her; ground her. "We're going to stick around for a few hours and into the night. We'll make sure nothing happens to you, alright?"

Dean jumped to his feet and faced John. "We're going to need to stay awhile, deal?"

John leered at Dean, so unsure, and contemplating calling security.

"I'm going to die, you know? There's nothing you can do to stop her," Bell told Sam.

"I promise you won't."

Sam and Dean left with John, and Sam looked into her room through the window as the door closed with a loud click. Bell stood from her chair and stretched, then moved to her bed where she fished out a deck of cards from under her pillow and began to play a game with them.

Dean assumed authority again, stabbing a single digit at the doctor's chest. "You've got ten seconds to tell me what you know about Linda Kaufman."

John paled almost instantly, and Sam took over from Dean. "Back to your office again, shall we?" Sam gave Dean a reprimanding glance.

-x-

"This matter is all real then? Ghosts? Monsters? Wait, is Bigfoot real?"

"Let's stay on track here," Dean bound to his feet from his chair he was seated in. It felt like hours that he was sitting there explaining the truth to this man, and he wants to ask such an adolescent question?

Sam had taken time about ten minutes ago to fetch their duffle full of salt, the sawed-off, and an iron piece. He salted the windows and doors, protecting the doctor.

"This ghost is coming after you because of your daughter, do you understand that?" Dean repeated for the seemingly hundredth time. "Linda is a vengeful spirit, hell-bent on hurting your daughter. Your daughter is the biological sister of Linda, and doesn't like that your daughter has a happy life."

John was slumped in his chair, trying to process all of the life-changing information thrown at him. "How do you kill a ghost?"

"Usually, salt and burn the bones," Sam said completely imperturbably. "But according to the records, Linda was already cremated."

John pursed his lips and began hitting numerous letters on his keyboard to the computer on his desk. He opened Linda's death certificate, and turned the screen to the boys. "No, no, that's not right. I remembered that, I was in training at the newspaper company that year, I needed a job and they were the only ones who were hiring. This was before I went to school to become a doctor, of course, but, I took the man's job who wrote that article. There was a lot of angry feedback from the community towards the writer; Linda was never cremated, she truly is buried in the cemetery. That man lost his job for that mishap."

Dean looked to Sam with the same panicked look mirrored on his brother's face. "I'll go dig her up, Sam, keep an eye on John!" Dean ran as fast as he could out of the room, the hospital and to that beautiful car of his.

Sam shared glances with John and saw fear, or maybe confusion?

"Is something the matter, doctor?"

"Are you guys really FBI agents? I mean, I have a lot of questions now. I can't understand anything now that you guys have told me all this, and…"

Sam's hands went to his hips the way they do when he's trying to find the correct thing to say. In all the times he had ever had to chance to spill his knowledge onto someone, he took the chance. The more people with this awareness in the world, the more better off they are. "Yes. And, ask your questions, we have…" Sam looked at his watch and felt his heart skip a beat in anticipation. "We have eleven minutes until 2 A.M." Sam smiled uneasily, and then his hand went to his pocket to retrieve his phone.

"Yeah," Dean barked into his phone.

Sam could hear the Impala's engine roar well over what would be the speed limit for this city. "It's pretty close to two. I'll hold off Linda the best I can over here while you do what you need to."

"If she doesn't come over here and try to kill me, too." Dean snapped his phone closed and tossed it into the passenger seat.

Sam joined the doctor at his desk and tried his best to calm him down, seeing as how the John started to breathe a little heavier than normal. "You're safe. That patient, Bell, she's just a decoy. Linda is really coming for you."

"How can you be so sure?!" John exclaimed as he trembled more in his chair.

"Linda wants to make your daughter, her sister, feel the loss of a parent. We'll stop her, I promise."

"My daughter? Bell?"

Sam's blood ran cold. Bell was the target. John was safe, Bell wasn't a decoy. "Stay in this room. Don't you dare leave no matter what, you got that?!" Sam yelled and ran out the door, keeping the salt line unscathed. He launched himself up the stairs to the floor Bell was kept on. He blew past nurses and other personnel towards Bell's room. He looked in the window and spied Linda's ghost watching over Bell's sleeping body.

"No!" he cried, and threw the door open, brandishing an iron hand hatchet that he pulled from his jacket, after safely being shrouded inside the room without the prying eyes of the various hospital staff.

Linda looked up from Bell's body and growled at Sam menacingly, then appeared before him and shoved him into the wall behind him. He collided with a thud and a groan, but swung the hatchet at Linda's legs. It glided through with a flare and scream of the ghost, and Linda dissipated. Since she was momentarily subdued, Sam took the opportunity to try and wake up Bell. He shook her gently, trying to be as calm as he could be in this situation.

"Bell, wake up, you need to get up."

The girl groaned vaguely, yet remained asleep. Glancing over, he saw an IV dropping a sedative into her arm. The drug being administered was a sedative to keep her asleep, and was dropping heavily. He turned a dial to cut off the medicine intake and tried to shake her again, but Linda's ghost had other plans for Sam. She grabbed him again and launched him toward the wall, causing him to collide with the barred window Bell was looking out earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, Dean just broke through the casket of Linda's grave, and hastily began pouring salt over the bones and dust. Linda then appeared before him, growling and howling at him. His eyes widened in a momentary fear as his hand habitually reached for his lighter. His finger lit the lighter in almost record time and tossed it into the hole in the ground. Linda's bones ignited and her charge at Dean only became a rain of ashes that he raised his arms to shield himself from.

Sam, on the other hand, watched the hospital room carefully, wondering if she was going to reappear or not. He grabbed his phone and dialed his brother.

"Did you get her?" Sam yelled into his phone.

"Yeah, burnin' as we speak," Dean said overlooking the fire pit he created.

"Some easy case, huh?" Sam laughed, quoting Dean from earlier.

"Shut up," Dean answered with a grin and hung up on Sam.

Sam smiled and took in a deep breath, filling his lungs with the much needed oxygen. He felt someone looking at him, so he looked toward the door and found no one spying. Instead, it was Bell sitting up in her bed, watching him with the same stoic look from earlier in the day. Sam nodded toward her. "You okay?"

Bell nodded hesitantly, and she too took in the much needed deep breath.

-x-

Dean was instructing John on what to do for the rest of his days; how to protect himself, contact if needed, and other little tricks of the trade. Sam was consoling Bell right outside John's office. She was being discharged today after passing a psychiatric test.

"Sam, can I ask you and your brother something?" Bell nodded her head toward her father's office, and in return Sam agreed. He followed her into the office, and the sudden appearance of her caused John and Dean to stop conversing.

"Dad, we need to talk," Bell started. Dean stood to excuse himself, but Bell asked him to stay. After everyone was seated, she inhaled, exhaled, and connected eyes with her father. "Why didn't you tell me I was adopted?"

John's face was a look of defeat. He knew this day was coming, and it probably came a bit too late. "I was afraid of how you would feel."

"If this were any other circumstance, I would have just been fine. But I was almost killed because of a _ghost_ over this. You could have told me."

"I should have, and I regret that so much now. I can make it better, Belly."

Dean and Sam glanced at each other at the use of her apparent nickname. Sam raised a brow, and Dean shrugged. He still felt like this wasn't something they needed to be present for, but okay then.

"What happened to my real parents?"

"No one knows," John's hands rested in his lap. "Some people say they ran away, others say they died."

Bell closed her eyes and tried so hard to think about her parents. Of course she couldn't, she was only two when she last saw them. "I'm almost twenty three years old now. I'm an adult, I can handle things like this."

"I know, and I'm so sorry," John's voice started to crack. His remorse was becoming too much for even Dean. "Let's go home and have breakfast. We can fix it."

Bell sighed and put her face in her hands. "Dad, I'm leaving."

"Leaving where?"

"I'm going to ask Sam and Dean to take me with them."

The brothers shot looks at each other asking, _did you know about this?_ In return, they shrugged, and Dean stepped up clearing his throat.

"I don't know what you expect from us, but we're not really people to go with."

"You men aren't FBI. You're hunters. I want to be a hunter too," Bell said when she turned to Dean. "Sam told me what you are. I want to save people, too."

"Bell, don't go, you have no idea what that life is like!" John pleaded.

"Your dad is right, Bell. We're… we live a dangerous life. You can get hurt," Sam added with a calmer approach.

"I don't care what you two say. I'm going with you, and that's final. Dad, I'll keep in touch," Bell turned on her heel and exited the office with a slamming door.

Sam twisted his neck to look at John's face of horror.

"Please get her to stay. Please, I can't lose her," John pleaded.

Dean was almost frozen to his spot in shock, wondering why someone would opt in to being a hunter. In the whole time he's been a hunter, he has had his share of regrets and things he wished he could be, have or do, but not once would he have voluntarily taken on this job. Well, on second thought, maybe he would… Hunting was the family business, after all. "She is her own person," Dean added without thinking. "She's an adult, like she said."

Sam confronted Dean quickly, a hushed voice whispering into his ear. "Dean, seriously? You want to take her with us?"

"Of course not, we'll throw her through a few tests and see what she can't do, send her packing home," Dean stated matter-of-factly.

Sam tilted his head and shook it disapprovingly, then took after Bell.

John watched him leave with the same horror and disappointment that he's had this whole time. He looked at Dean with hopeful eyes. "P-please…"

Dean gave a half smile, and then threw his hands up. "She'll be home in a few days, give or take." He followed his brother's footsteps, and to the car. There he found Sam trying to reason with Bell, but to no avail.

_This is going to be an interesting fieldtrip. _

_PS I PROMISE CAS IS COMING IN NEXT CHAPTER._


	3. Kansas

_I think these chapters just keep getting longer as I keep writing. So, uhm, review anyone?_

Bell was restless. She'd spent the last fourteen hours in the back of the cramped Impala from Ohio to Kansas. She wanted a break, she wanted to sleep in a real bed, she wanted a shower. Through her attempted sleeping periods in the backseat, the boys would try to talk quietly.

"What if she is any good at this?" Sam asked Dean out of the blue.

"Then we can put her with another hunter."

"I guess so…" Sam trailed off.

"You got a better idea?"

"Well, we could always use a helping hand."

"But not in the form of a 'daddy issues' girl. It's not happening, Sam."

And Bell then decided to prove that jackass Dean wrong.

When the car finally stopped in the middle of Kansas (Lebanon to be exact), Bell was almost worried for herself. The car was parked outside of an old looking factory in the middle of nowhere. It was so secluded, she almost felt like turning tail and running.

"Is this where you live?" she asked as they walked to a door in the ground.

"It's our secret base," Dean said almost a little too excitedly.

Sam pursed his lips and glanced around the twilight setting of the place. "It's a history lesson you'll be sure to get. But, yes, this is where we live."

Dean unlocked the door with the key and pushed it open. He held the door open and turned to his brother and girl. "Cas!" he exclaimed almost surprised.

Sam and Bell turned to the sudden presence of the man.

"Whoa, where did you come from?" Bell jumped away from him. "Who is he?"

"I was wondering when you would be back. I wanted to come back inside," the man in the trench coat said with no regard to her exclamations.

"Uhm, Bell, this is Castiel. He's an angel. He's good," Sam said plainly to the girl.

"If you're an angel, where's your wings?" she asked skeptically, earning a confused head tilt from Castiel.

"Okay, children, get inside or no dinner!" Dean waved his arm toward the door, ushering them in quickly.

Bell's first intake of the beautiful and intricate bunker's design was shock and awe. From the outside, it didn't look like much. Inside there was such care and detail taken to make this place so safe and homey feeling, even if it was a base of operations. The staircase was something out of a movie that made Bell think a pretty girl in a dress should be descending to meet her dream come true of a man. When she did look at the foot of the stairs, all that was there was Castiel glancing around. _Not really my dream man…_ When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she dropped the bags she spent next to no time packing at her feet.

"So, what do you think?" Sam asked her.

"This is lovely. I mean, this is amazing, how did you turn it into all of this?"

"That's for later. Go shower up and get ready for dinner," Dean said as he strode across the floor. "You too, Cas. Who knows how dirty you are…" he ended with a mutter.

"I'm very clean, Dean. I'm an angel, remember?" Castiel called after him.

"He meant physically, Cas…" Sam corrected him.

"Oh, right."

Bell watched Castiel walk away to what she presumed was the shower. She looked at Sam. "So, do I just wait until he's done?"

"Oh, actually," Sam started and placed a hand on her shoulder to push her along, "it's like a shower house. Come look."

Bell and Sam caught up to Castiel as he passed through an archway into a hallway that had doors up and down its walls. On the left, Castiel opened a door which showed to the trio multiple stalls all closed up for privacy.

"You can shower at the same time, really, but if you would rather have your privacy we can have Cas wait," Sam let her look around to make her decision.

Each stall had frosted glass around the actual shower part, while each had a room before it to store dry belongings. The floor was tiled in white and had a drain in the middle of the room. There were mirrors and sinks along the wall adjacent to the showers. There were shelves inlaid in the wall full of shower supplies and clean towels.

"This place seems too clean to belong to just two boys and an angel…" Bell said as she started toward the shelf. "But I won't make him wait. It's private enough." She grabbed a towel and shampoo. "Guess I'll be out eventually."

Sam nodded at her and went back the way he came. Castiel started toward the back of the shower room and shrugged off his coat. He hung it on a hook right outside the stall he chose and went in. Bell on the other hand, sat down just inside the dry area of her shower. She didn't realize it until now how bad she had been shaking. From fear? Being nervous? She couldn't decide which. She untied her boots and slipped them off, then saw her hands for the first time in a while. They were trembling.

"You don't have to be afraid."

Bell looked up at Castiel as he peered into her dry room. "I'm not afraid!"

"I can feel you. You're afraid, and it's okay. I can promise you that."

Bell blinked repeatedly and her gaze travelled back to her feet. Her face clenched between her brows as her jaw fell open, unable to find words. "You, you're—I mean, why—"

"Oh," Castiel said, hopping to his toes and back down. "My appearance is considered inappropriate to women," he then tightened the towel around his waist. "Dean told me that."

Bell held her arm over her eyes. "That's swell, if you want to talk can you do it clothed, please?" She slid closed the door to her dry room and watched his silhouette walk away. The shower next to her started up, and she took the opportunity to get undressed and into her own shower. She turned the water on and felt it just fall down her back. She braced her hands on the wall before her and simply enjoyed the warmth.

"You're wasting water," Castiel yelled over the sound of the water.

Bell laughed and shook her head. "Thanks, angel!"

"My name is Castiel."

"I know," Bell answered quietly as she closed her eyes and pointed her face to the water. The pressure was perfect, and she felt a lot of dirt wash away from her body and soul. She ran her long fingers through her dark brown hair that reached so far down her body. She reached for the shampoo and lathered some through her hair.

-x-

"Doesn't this feel weird to you?" Dean asked Sam as he worked at the stove.

"You're cooking for a family of four?" Sam answered him from the fridge.

Dean gave Sam a scolding look. "I'm just wondering what Bell wants. Now that I think about it, we know nothing about her except for what we learned yesterday."

"We can get to know each other over dinner."

Dean sighed, seeing he was losing this fight. Sam sat the table with plates, silverware and glasses, then busted out laughing.

"It is _kind of_ weird. I'm setting a damn dinner table!" His laugh echoed out again, full of pure happiness. Sam held his stomach as it started to ache from the sound, but was so happy. He felt normal again for a minute and _still _managed to be a hunter! The bunker had become his home since South Dakota. He never thought that after leaving Lawrence so long ago that now he'd end up back in another part of Kansas. It truly did feel like home.

"I didn't mean a good weird," Dean muttered to himself as he removed the skillet he was cooking in from the stove and to the counter.

"Dean, don't do that. You'll ruin the counter that way." Sam moved the skillet back to the stove, but to a burner that wasn't on.

"I'm all clean," Castiel announced as he entered the hall flanked with Bell on his left. She waved nervously and looked around while trying to appear inconspicuous.

"Sit," Dean pointed at the table. "Eat," he took the skillet to the table and sat it down there. The rest of the food was waiting.

"I don't eat, Dean," Castiel added.

"It's dinnertime, I don't care if you don't eat, we're having dinnertime!" Dean scolded.

The four finally sat down with silence. Dean had made the only thing he loved; burgers. Sam chuckled as he made his plate and opened his beer. Dean had the happiest look on his face, one he always had when food was involved. Castiel watched the two brothers with mild amusement, knowing they were his own little family here on Earth. Bell, though, suddenly felt shy in the matter.

"Aw, please don't tell me you don't eat meat," Dean looked at Bell with a shocked expression.

"No, no, it's not that. It's just… I don't think I know your real names. I only heard your FBI names."

Sam swallowed down his food. "I'm Sam Winchester. That's Dean, my brother."

Bell narrowed her eyes at Sam. "_The_ Winchester brothers?"

"You've read the books?" Sam asked her.

"What books? You guys—aren't you both wanted criminals?"

"If we tried to explain that to you, you wouldn't believe us. No one does. I swear to you on everything I own that we're innocent," Dean said pointing at her.

"You really haven't read the books?" Sam asked her the question again, altered. He was almost excited.

"What books?" Bell asked again as she finally made her plate. Castiel watched her plate become full with a raised eyebrow.

"There was once a prophet named Chuck who wrote the books that will become the Winchester Gospel. They have chronicled every event so far that the boys have gone through," Castiel answered her. "They have been published as a book series titled _Supernatural_."

Bell took in the expressions the brothers were giving her. Everything they've said has been true so far, she could read it so clearly. "So is this the time to ask silly questions?"

"Sure," Sam nodded, "let's hear it."

"Should I even be introducing myself? You guys don't really know me…"

"I know you, you're—"

"Cas! Give her a chance to talk," Dean interrupted the angel.

Bell looked at Castiel with almost a glare, but sat down her food and folded her hands under her chin. "My full name is Bellatrix Smith. But I guess that isn't correct. My real name is Kaufman?"

"Your birth name is Bellamy Kaufman. It was changed to Bellatrix Smith in the event of your adoption," Castiel answered her. "An angel from my garrison is your guardian angel."

"I got lucky enough to get you," Dean cooed in a mocking tone at Castiel.

"Wait, guardian angel? Wouldn't they just have saved me from that ghost back in Ohio?"

"Angels are particular beings," Castiel ended the topic and walked away from the table.

"Why are you even here, Cas?" Dean called after him.

"Leave him be, Dean. He probably had a rough day. It's nice to know this is where he could come when he wants a break." Sam poked his salad on his plate with his fork. "Bellatrix is an interesting name," he added.

"Interesting to find it _isn't_ my name…" Bell took a bite of her burger. "This food is amazing."

Dean gave Sam a smile. "My food is amazing."

"Well, since you haven't read the books, here," Sam said pulling a box from under the table. "Every volume of _Supernatural_ that's ever been horrendously published."

Bell reached in and pulled a book out and flipped through its pages. "It can't be that bad."

"Oh, but it is…" Dean muttered with a shiver.

"Dean, you're naked in this scene," Bell turned the book to him with a cocky grin.

"Don't read it in front of me! God, you women!" Dean picked up his plate and retreated down a hallway.

"Just, read a few, and I'll quiz you on it tomorrow, deal?" Sam started to pick up plates. He was already formulating questions and tricks to ask her about after she read so much of the first book. It was almost exciting to him. "I'm sure Dean will also test your ability to shoot a gun."

"A gun? Like a real one?"

"Sawed-off, hand guns, whatever else we have. There's too many in the shooting range to really categorize, but those are our main ones… Have you ever shot a gun before?"

Bell chewed her lower lip. "I guess so, does a paintball gun count?"

Sam's eyebrows knit together. "You paintball?"

"I had friends who did it, so I decided to give it a go one time."

"Hm," Sam said, a bit impressed. "Well, you can sleep in the room across the hall from the showers. I put some clean blankets in there. I'm going to bed! It was a long drive, long day. Read what you can, and we'll talk tomorrow. Call home, too. Your dad will want to know you're okay," Sam nodded at Bell and slid a phone across the table to her. He picked up a few dishes off the table and started putting things away.

Bell flipped through the pages in the book before actually opening up to the first page and began reading. Without her realizing it, Sam left the room, turned off all lights except for the ones at the table she was at, and midnight came and gone. Castiel sat at the table across from her around three in the morning as she turned to the last page.

Castiel watched her read the last page and set the book down.

Bell glanced around nervously before sinking into the chair. "How long has it been?"

"The boys went to bed around eight; it's very early in the morning now."

"Oh."

Castiel watched Bell as she fidgeted around and wiped at her eyes. "Are you upset?"

"No, I think I'm just tired."

"You are only human. You need your rest," Castiel waved at the hallway with his hand.

"Does it hurt?"

Castiel tilted his head. "Nothing hurts me, I cannot feel pain."

"Being an angel."

"I don't understand the inquiry."

"I feel like having all kinds of people believing in me, praying to me, wanting things from me, would bother me. I'd go insane."

"I find gratitude in the love people offer my father and all of my brothers and sisters."

"I guess I could never be an angel, then."

Castiel intertwined his fingers together and leaned forward on his forearms. "Does it hurt being a human?"

"As far as I can tell, yes."

"I don't understand pain."

"It's not that great," Bell told Castiel as she leaned onto the table, her ribs pressed against the edge as her body stretched over it, her head resting on her hand. "Pain makes us who we are, I guess. We humans say that a lot." Bell tried to gauge Castiel's reaction, but all she saw was the same lost puppy look he always had. "I almost envy you."

"Envy is a sin. But it too, is what makes humans what they are."

Bell laughed heartily at Castiel's words. "Oh, angel."

"Why haven't you said my name?"

Bell's smile faded to a small grin. "I'm afraid of the unknown. Less than twenty-four hours ago I was told my nightmares are real. I'm not quite the believer yet, and just saying your name I think would be the first step to accepting that."

"I think I understand."

"The supernatural is a mystery to me. I just need to see it to believe it."

Castiel sat back in his chair, then after contemplation, he rose to his feet. Bell watched him curiously as he pushed in his chair. His eyes focused on the lamp before them, and with some of his power he caused a flare in the lights. Bell gasped as she saw Castiel's shadow of wings. They extended far out to each of his sides and looked so full and fluffy in just their shadow alone.

"Those were so beautiful!" Bell exclaimed as she stood. The light dimmed down by Castiel's glance. "Why can't I see them now?"

"It's not natural for wings to appear on my human body."

"I want to really see them sometime."

"Perhaps one day you shall," Castiel said with a nod.

"I'm going to turn in for bed, now. I have a test in the morning," Bell said with a laugh. "Where will you be sleeping?"

"I do not require sleep."

"What do you do when everyone is asleep?"

"I watch over them and protect them if I need to. I am charged with being Dean's guardian angel."

"When you say 'charged' you make it sound like it's a bad thing."

"It's not! I enjoy this job," Castiel said defensively. Not ever, not once had he regret pulling Dean from Hell. His life had honestly become more fulfilling and felt like it had purpose. Dean was a very important person in his existence, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"I'm going to sleep. I'll see you when I wake up. Let Sam know I stayed up to finish that first book, okay?" Bell stretched and yawned, and waved a goodbye to Castiel over her shoulder. Quietly she made her way down the hall and into the room she was told to stay in.

The walls were white and the carpet was beige. She felt it tickle her feet as she shuffled across it. The room had a full-sized bed along the wall opposite of the door. There was a pile of white sheets and blankets at the foot of it. She'd have to make the bed before sleeping. Bell turned to close the door but was shocked by Castiel standing in the doorframe.

"You forgot your bag under the table, I wasn't sure if you needed it or not…" he extended his arm that held in it her duffle bag. She forgot she drug that out to the hall with her after the shower.

"Thanks, you're so kind."

"I was told once that this part of me that cares is the reason I am special."

Bell looked at Castiel's blue eyes, and he in turn looked into her soul behind her dark eyes.

"I can see that in you, too," Castiel told her, then disappeared in a flutter of wings and material.

Bell blinked repeatedly in disbelief. She stepped out of her door and looked down both sides of the hallway for where Castiel could have gone to, but he was gone entirely. "Well, that was cool."

Bell threw her bag to the floor at the foot of her bed and started making it. Once she had the pillowcase put on the pillow, she fell into the bed and fell asleep instantly.


	4. Degrees

_Short chapter, almost filler, but starting to get into the storyline I've been meaning to. So, yeah, summary says Castiel x OC, but I feel like anything else I've ever written was very hasty romance that looking back on now, was kind of a bad idea. People don't fall in love in days… if they did then you're lucky. Congrats, you. Here's a fresh pie. Expect this romance to be ever slow burning, because that's the way it happens in real life. Plus, Castiel is an angel, I don't think he knows what love is, also I think human lovers are against one of those law things. Shrug._

Bell woke up only hours later to the smell of breakfast cooking. She almost screamed as a side effect of the nightmare she had; the ghost of Linda was still trying to drown her. Of course the medium Linda had to use was a dream, so now Bell felt frightened to even go back to sleep again.

A knock on the door brought Bell back to Earth. "You awake?" It was Dean.

"Yeah, I'm up, just a second."

"Breakfast is ready. Sammy's ready for your quiz."

Bell heard Dean shuffle away. Sounded like he was wearing slippers. Bell sighed and sat up and hugged her legs tightly. _I didn't call dad last night. I really didn't want to, though. He'd try to guilt me into going home._

Next to her bed was a sound of material waving against itself. When Bell looked over she saw Castiel faced away from her.

"Can I help you?"

"I was thinking about something you said last night, and I waited for you to get up. Is it okay for me to turn around?"

Bell looked herself over and pulled the blanket up to her chin. "I'm decent if that's what you're asking."

Castiel turned slowly to Bell with a confused look. "Do you hurt right now?"

"I feel pretty fine, why?"

"When you told me being a human hurts, I because curious. I wanted to know what exactly hurt."

Bell raised her brows and exhaled deeply. "Our emotions hurt us. Physical damage hurts; it all depends on what has happened to us."

"It's not always physical?" Castiel kneeled down to her bed and sat on the edge.

"Mm. No. Do you not have these talks with Sam or Dean?"

Castiel looked down at his hands in his lap. "Sam doesn't seem to like to talk to me, and Dean is always a smartass."

Bell laughed. "I can't always give you answers. And next time? Try knocking on the door, okay?"

"Oh, yes. Humans do that, too."

Bell shook her head as Castiel left. An angel. Angels are walking the Earth, it seems. She was living proof ghosts haunt the breathing. She didn't know how she felt about the demons…

Her feet touched the cool ground, and after wiggling her toes around she pulled a new set of clothes out to wear for the day. She changed into a pair of black shorts that ended at her knees, and a white tank top. She brushed through her long hair and decided herself presentable to the day's wonders.

Sam looked up from the table as Bell came in. "Hey. How'd you sleep?"

"Good enough," she answered. "I had a nightmare about yesterday? Day before? I've lost track of time from not seeing the sun for so long."

"Side effect from livin' in here," Dean told her as he entered the room with plates full of food. "I like this cookin' bit. I just love cookin' in general."

"I'm not arguing you there," Sam laughed and started to fill his plate. "So, how far did you get in the book last night, Bell?"

"I, uh, read the whole first book."

"Really?" Dean said in disbelief.

"Nice," Sam said between bites. "Are you ready to be tested?"

"And know that if you fail so much as one question, its back home to Ohio with you," Dean added. It almost sounded like a threat. Bell watched him sit down with a shocked expression.

"You have to give me more of a leeway than that. That's insanity, and you weren't perfect at this when you started, were you?"

Dean pointed a fork at her, "We just happened to be born into this."

Bell huffed and leaned back in her chair. She crossed her arms. "What's the first question, then?"

"Woman in White case? Okay, let me think…" Sam tapped his fingers on the table as he dug through the archives of his brain for information to quiz her on. There was only so much that was noted in the book that could literally be tested on, and so far it wasn't much.

"What was the Woman in White's real name?"

Bell looked to the side as if she were trying to look directly at her brain. "Constance?" Sam twisted his hand in a 'carry on' motion. "Welsh? No! Welch!"

Dean nodded. "Okay. What's a salt ring for?"

"Anything inside a salt ring is protected from ghosts' and demons' entry."

It was Sam's turn to nod. "What is a hunter's journal?"

Bell narrowed her eyes and unfolded her arms. Her hands landed in her lap. "A documentation of monsters, demons, ghosts, cases and helpful notes that a hunter could use or had used. In your father's case it was his diary."

"And how did Constance lure people into her trap?" Dean fired off instantly.

"She'd hitchhike on the side of the road, asking people to go home with her."

"And where was Dad's journal in his hotel room?" Sam tried.

Bell tilted her head to the right, squinted her eyes and pursed her lips. "It wasn't in your father's hotel room. And it wasn't even a hotel, it was a _motel_. Your father's journal was in the possession of the police. Dean got it back when he was arrested."

Sam and Dean exchanged impressed glances. Trick questions don't faze her.

"How do you kill a ghost?" Sam leaned forward, his ribs pressing against the edge of the table.

"Constance? Or in general?"

"Let's say both," Dean concluded.

"You salted the bones of Linda Kaufman and burned them in my case. That took away her ties to this world. In the case of the Woman in White, you ended up with her coming to realization of her children's death. You resolved her issues she couldn't do while living. She accepted death and passed on."

Sam nodded in approval. "Alright, so far we can say you have the ability to pay attention to detail."

Bell narrowed her eyes at Sam, wondering if he was being serious or sarcastic. Dean apparently had the same thought as he looked to his brother, too.

"That was totally my line," Dean said and in turn earned a shake of Sam's head.

The rest of breakfast went silently, Castiel wandered through a few times, telling everyone he was amazed at the fact he could still find new rooms to explore each time he turned down a hall. Sam gathered dishes up and took them to the kitchen. Dean took over responsibility of Bell then.

"I'm gonna take you to the shooting range and test your shootin' skills," he told her as he lead the way.

"I've never touched a real gun before."

"Here you go," Dean said as he pulled one out from the back of his pants and threw it over his shoulder at Bell.

Bell screeched as she tried to catch it and fumbled it in her hands. "Dean! What are you, fucking crazy?!"

Dean smiled to himself. "It's not loaded, think I'd really make that kind of mistake?"

Bell glared at the back of his head as they entered the range. She watched the room light up and noticed at least six different windows from which trainees could shoot from. Each window had targets at least twenty feet away, and then the room seemed to extend further back. The targets were movable to different lengths to train for. The wall behind the windows had a larger window that showed a room resembling an office. Bell thought it could have been where a secretary would spend days issuing weapons out to the people that needed them, but this seemed like too much of a secret base to really have that many members…

Dean took the gun back from Bell. "I'm going to show you how to load it, aim it, fire it, and hopefully you'll be good at it."

"And if I'm not?"

"You're going back home to Ohio, all expenses paid," Dean tried to sound like a game show announcer, but his sarcasm really shined through.

"Then, if I'm good?" Bell wondered if he would try to deviate away from what she overheard in the car.

Dean finished loading a clip and set it on the table before them. "Then, we'll see."

Bell huffed and pressed her palms on the table. "What first, teach?"

"I loaded the clip for you. This is a .45 caliber Colt 1911. My favorite," he said with a grin. "It can hold a full magazine and one in the chamber. It's a good gun to have when hunting, even for defense in some cases. Anyway, this is how it's loaded," he shoved the magazine into the gun, cocked it, disengaged the safety and shot at the target in front of them. It hit the dead center of the head of the man outlined. "Easy, right?"

"Yeah, sure," Bell said with uncertainty as he took the gun back apart and sat it before her. Dean stepped back and watched with a careful eye. She grabbed the magazine and pressed down on the bullets. They sprung back at the absence of her touch. "Should I reload it?"

"It's fine. Go for it, quit stalling," Dean motioned to the gun with his hand.

Bell fumbled with the magazine and pushed it into the gun, listening for it to click in place.

"Why did you want to come with us?" Dean asked all of a sudden. Bell turned to him, but he scolded her for it. "Keep focused!"

Bell turned back to the gun. She cocked it and held it out in her right hand, left hand bracing her balance. She took her time in aiming and took the shot; it hit the outline's shoulder.

"Keep going!" Dean barked.

Bell took each shot while holding the gun in the same stance she started in. Every bullet was only inches away from her first shot. Smoke rose out of the end of the barrel. Bell sat the gun down as she listened to the ringing silence. "I don't know. Maybe coming along would have helped me shed some light on my original family… or something of the sort. I did research; my family is… I just can't… I don't want to talk about it. I just want to know what really happened… and becoming a hunter sounded so neat… I don't have a proper answer for you. I just don't."

Dean stared at her with narrowed eyes. _What the hell did we get ourselves into with her?_

-x-

Sam kept up with the quizzing questions, Dean kept pushing weapons training on her (not training, more like HEY CAN YOU USE THIS DO IT NOW), and at some points Bell could see Castiel wander around in the corners of her eye. In the downtime, she read more books, in turn gaining more tests from Sam… a never-ending cycle. Bell was exhausted, strained, and almost sick of it all, but she studied hard to appeal to Sam and focused even harder on the weapons to prove to Dean she wasn't just a girl.

Bell sighed as she sat down the forth book on the table. It was way past time for rest, and her mind was still racing. She didn't know if she wanted to sleep or not, but then again, the boys were talking about a possible hunt tomorrow. She was also under the impression they don't want her to go.

"You're up late, again," Castiel said to her.

Bell looked up at him as he stood in front of her across the table. "You are, too."

"I don't sleep—"

"I know," Bell interrupted him. That seems almost… unbearable. Do you ever just sit still?" Bell gathered up the books and tossed them into the box they came from haphazardly.

"I have no reason to rest at all," Castiel told her.

"I'm sorry," she said slightly sympathetically.

Castiel squinted his eyes at her and tilted his head to the side. "What have you done to be sorry for?"

"You really need to work on your human slang, figures of speech," Bell said with a tone of annoyance, then took the box in her hands and retreated to her room.

Castiel was left pondering what it was _he _did that will require his apology later.

_ It wasn't that he did anything wrong, I probably shouldn't have been rude_, Bell thought. _It's hard to talk to someone that you have to explain each and every gimmick to. It makes me wonder how long the Angel has been with the Winchesters, and how long _I _have with them… _

In the safety of the room she sleeps in, she froze right inside the door. "I held a gun today. I really don't want to go. I want to stay. But, Dean doesn't seem to want me to stay… What do I do?"

Bell lay in the bed and pulled the covers over her head. Castiel spied from behind the doorway. He then disappeared silently and went to where the brothers were awake and speaking with each other in Dean's room, invisible.

"You have to admit, she's gotten pretty good," Sam told Dean. "She knows all the tricks by now, she has us to teach her—that's pretty freakin' sweet if I do say so myself. We didn't have anyone to teach us, just Dad's journal. And I think it's just about maxed out."

"She's good at shootin' a gun too," Dean sighed. "I don't know how I feel about her staying, Sammy. It's always been me and you, and anyone else that ever got close to us has either died, or worse."

"Cas is still here," Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, and he's also an angel."

Sam agreed internally. "Garth is okay. Everyone that hasn't been okay was because we left them unattended too soon. I feel responsible for that, and I hate it."

"I don't know, Sam. Can we talk about it tomorrow? I'm tired."

"Yeah," Sam said, rising off of Dean's bed. "We can."

Dean watched his brother leave without saying good night, and he knew he upset him. He knew Sam felt responsible for each death of their friends so far, and he didn't want Bell to be another casualty. If she was, it would go on him. His conscious was already cracking and falling through the free spaces in his hands.

Sam was happy with Bell's interest and ability to learn so quickly, but he knew once she were to actually apply herself that she would show her true progress. Was tomorrow too soon? It seemed like an easy case that he and Dean had found. Either way, he wanted to know, and wanted to know now.

Castiel had almost the same thoughts, but this was almost unlike Dean to not want to help out a woman. Dean loved women. And pie. Maybe he should tell Bell to make Dean a pie, maybe then she could stay? Castiel knew Bell wanted to stay so badly, and he could sympathize with that fact. That's what he was doing right now… _for_ now. He probably couldn't stay much longer. He only came by to hideout and recuperate for the time being… He had his own mission to tend to. He couldn't let the brothers know, though. If they did, they'd probably kill him instead.


End file.
